"Soma", originally called "Coma", is a track on the album Siamese Dream by The Smashing Pumpkins.
The song-writing credits list James Iha and Billy Corgan as co-authors, but Corgan claims that Iha only wrote the chord structure for the beginning of the song, and that Corgan himself wrote the rest. One of the longest songs to appear on a Smashing Pumpkins album, it is said to have included up to 40 guitar tracks over the course of the song. Corgan says the song "is based on the idea that a love relationship is almost the same as opium: it slowly puts you to sleep, it soothes you, and gives you the illusion of sureness and security." It was also acknowledged that song was inspired by Corgan's break-up with his ex-wife, Chris Fabian. The song also contains references to a hallucinogenic drug which was featured in Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World and features a prominent piano figure by Mike Mills of R.E.M.
The song received positive reviews. Ned Raggett of Allmusic especially praised the song's guitar solo, while spotting elements from gothic rock and psychedelic rock. The song was also likened to Prince's "The Beautiful Ones". The critically acclaimed guitar solo was rated as the 24th in Rolling Stone's "The 25 Coolest Guitar Solos" list. The guitar solo was placed as 41st in NME's "50 Greatest Guitar Solos" list.
Is This It is the debut studio album by American rock band The Strokes. Recorded at Transporterraum in New York City with producer Gordon Raphael, the album was first released on July 30, 2001, in Australia, with RCA Records as the primary label. The record entered the UK Albums Chart at number two and peaked at number 33 on the U.S. Billboard 200, going on to achieve platinum status in several markets. "Hard to Explain", "Last Nite", and "Someday" were released as singles.
For the album, The Strokes strived to capture a simple rock sound that was not significantly enhanced in the studio. Building on the work of their 2001 debut EP, The Modern Age, the band members molded compositions largely through live takes during the recording sessions, while songwriter Julian Casablancas continued to detail the lives and relationships of urban youth. Following the completion of Is This It, The Strokes embarked on a promotional world tour before its release. The album's cover photograph courted controversy for being too sexually explicit and was replaced for the U.S. market. The American track listing was also amended in light of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Soma (1992, sometimes spelled SoMa) was the second collaborative album by the U.S. ambient musicians Steve Roach and Robert Rich, following their 1990 album Strata.
The liner notes explain that the word soma can be found in the ancient Vedic texts describing a drink made from plants to help commune with the gods (a botanical hallucinogen), and that the same word meant "body" in Ancient Greek.
The music on the album is "tribal ambient" (a mix of tribal house and ambient music) with dark hallucinatory overtones. The album ends with a gentle, serene piece for electric guitar titled "Touch".
All compositions by Steve Roach and Robert Rich.
Ole' magazine was one of the first small literary magazines produced by mimeograph to reach a nationwide audience. Published by Sacramento poet and editor Douglas Blazek, Ole' was at the heart of the "Mimeo Revolution" which saw underground presses publish non-establishment poets who could not get published in mainstream literary magazines such as Poetry Magazine.
The first edition of the magazine, published by The Mimeo Press of Bensenville, Illinois, was "Dedicated to the Cause of Making Poetry Dangerous", and featured three poems by Charles Bukowski ("Watchdog", "Freedom" and "Age"). Bukoswki's work would be featured in all eight editions; other contributors were Harold Norse (whose work would be featured in a special issue, Ole' #5 in 1966), Al Purdy, Steve Richmond and William Wantling.
The print runs of each issue were limited to 400 copies, which were individually numbered. Beginning with Issue #5, the publisher became Blazek's own Open Skull Press (some/all printed by Charles Plymell in San Francisco, CA, who is featured in many issues), also of Bensenville. Other contributors to Ole' included Bukowski acolyte Neeli Cheery, as well as James Baldwin, Anaïs Nin, William S. Burroughs and William Carlos Williams, all of whom contributed work to the "Harold Norse Special Issue" (#5).
Ole is a Danish and Norwegian masculine given name, derived from the Old Norse name Óláfr, meaning "ancestor's descendant".
Olé is the 21st original studio album released by Johnny Mathis. It is his fifth album for Mercury Records.
Of the many studio albums of Mathis, this is undoubtedly his most unusual, a collection of Latin American songs sung in the original languages. The album shows his gift for language as well as his courage as an artist to experiment with material outside his known style and repertoire. Also, the inclusion of classical music on this album is a testament to Mathis' talent and technique.
The album features arrangements by Allyn Ferguson who served as Mathis' musical director at the time while the orchestra was conducted by Jack Feierman.